Getter Robo Devolution: The Last Three Minutes of the Universe is a manga by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi (of Linebarrels of Iron and Ultraman fame) that comprises an Alternate Continuity of the Getter Robo series. The manga first came out on December 12, 2015 and ran for five volumes.
In it, Doctor Saotome brings together Ryoma Nagare, Hayato Jin, and Musashi Tomoe to pilot his Getter Robo against the monstrous 'Unevolved.' However, as the new Getter Team discovers, there's more layers to this conflict than first appears, as it turns out there are other Getter Teams across multiple worlds. But what happened to those other worlds? And what does it spell for this world?
The manga retains the darker themes seen in other parts of the franchise, complete with decidedly less than Family-Friendly violence. It also features a substantial number of Mythology Gags and Continuity Nods to previous Getter Robo works.
While it has yet to receive an Animated Adaptation like other Getter works, Devolution has been released in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. Additionally, Devolution's Getter Robo made an appearance in Super Robot Wars 30 as part of the final DLC wave (alongside Getter Robo Armageddon, which had appeared in the base game), with new voice actors for its Getter Team, and a theme composed by Eiichi Shimizu.
Getter Robo Devolution contains examples of:
- And the Adventure Continues: The final chapter has a new universe created from Getter Will's destruction just as the Devolution Getter Team fade from the Real World. Then, in the new universe, we see Ryoma prepare to gate-crash the Japan National Martial Arts Tournament, implying that the new universe is the one from the original Getter Robo manga.
- Alternate Continuity / Alternate Universe: To the other mangas and anime – while also confirming that all the Getter Robo continuities form a broader multiverse.
- Body Horror: The Unevolved, which can parasitize living humans. Needless to say, it's not pretty.
- The Cameo:
- As mentioned under Mythology Gag, the original Ryoma Nagare and Getter-1 appears in obscured form.
- A version of Go Ichimonji appears in the Devolution-verse. Another version of him as well as Gai has a bigger role in the Real World.
- A version of the Stelba piloted by Schwartz Koff is used to drop the real-world Getter into the simulation.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: In the final act, with the Getter on the ropes against the Getter Will, Ryoma calls on the eight billion people on Earth to believe in the Getter, just for one brief moment. This pays off handsomely, with the belief of the Earth's people powering up the Getter for a massive Shine Spark that finally defeats the Getter Will.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Michiru dies from being bisected when the Devolutionary enemy attacks Ryoma's school in the first volume.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Ryoma effectively does this to the simulation world. Don't worry. He fixes it..
- Evil Knockoff: Quite a few of the Unevolved take forms based on the Getter's forms, up to and including a hideously deformed version of the Emperor.
- Evolutionary Levels: As is usual in Getter Robo. However, it turns out that In addition, the Unevolved use genetic dead-ends in humans to create their monstrous bioweapons.
- The Multiverse: Confirmed to be a factor in the series with this manga.
- Mythology Gag: Due to the characters in Devolution having knowledge of The Multiverse, there are a ton of these but the biggest was when Saotome tried to convince Ryoma to get in the Getter-1 by stating it's his fate in every universe to pilot it and the scene cuts an obscured shot of the original Ryoma Nagare and Getter-1.
- The Reveal: The world the Devolution characters inhabit is really a simulation (specifically the 900,000,105th such simulation) created by an Alternate Universe's Professor Saotome to analyze the myriad of ways in which the Getter Emperor destroyed each world, then use the data collected from all the different scenarios to overload his world's Getter Robo, and force it to evolve to a point where it can take on the Emperor.
- Stealth Prequel: Implied in the finale. The destruction of Getter Will creates a new universe. The only piece we see of it is a moment where Ryoma is preparing to gate-crash the Japan National Martial Arts Tournament, just like he did in the first chapter of the original Getter Robo manga. This implies that the new universe is the one from which Ken Ishikawa's original Getter canon hails.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Devolution-verse Saotome and Ryoma effectively do this with their real-world counterparts, hijacking their plan to make their Getter evolve by forcing the end of their world, and manifesting the Devolution Getter Team in the Real World.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: Saotome has a variation of one in Chapter 26 with his real world self, as they explain to Simulation!Hayato and Real!Ryoma respectively about how Simulation!Saotome came to the discovery that his world was a simulation and what he plans to do about it. To sell this, the manga uses similar panel and dialogue layouts on the opposite page from one Saotome to the other.
